Between The Lines
by angelofjoy
Summary: When a killer begins silencing Five-O's biggest critics, it is up to Steve, Danny and the rest of the crew to solve the case before the killer comes after them as well.
1. News Flash

**A/N: As promised here is a brand new story because I'm just weak and when stories get into my head they don't leave me alone.**

**This story was inspired by my new love for the NBC series Hannibal, but it is completely based in the Hawaii Five-O universe and really had nothing to do with Hannibal whatsoever, but it's going to be messy and full of psychopathic goodness. It will not be fore the faint of heart. It was also started because of one of my Rant collections and when I wrote the prompt and had finished it, the whole story just kinda manifested itself in my mind. I had to carry one once it started to speak to me.**

**Also, Kono is in this story because in my mind I'm ignoring the season three finale!**

**As always I do not own any of the characters from Hawaii Five-O. They are the property of CBS.**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 1: News Flash

"In other news, Five-O made yet another spectacular take down today - ridding the island of evil doers and leaving a monstrous path of mayhem and destruction in their wake. With more on that story, here is Johnny Tao."

Detective Danny Williams turned off the television in the break-room and slammed the remote down onto the table top with a huff of aggravation.

"I was watching that!" Commander Steve McGarrett stated as he tossed and empty coffee cup over hand toward the waste paper basket and it was nothing but net.

"Like you want to hear another veiled news report about how we are effective but completely uncalled for?" Danny asked grumpily. "You know the news media has it out for us. All they do is talk down about us!"

"Hey, I hear it from you all the time in the car. It's nice to hear it from someone else for a change!" Steve stated mockingly as he snatched up the remote. "They're just doing their jobs." He added and turned the TV on again.

"This is the second time - the second time - Commander McGarrett has toppled my cart in the pursuit of one of his fugitives. All my merchandise is ruined and who is going to pay for that? Governor, will it be you? You're the one responsible for your Neanderthal task-force!" Some local Hawaiian complained for his fifteen minutes of fame on the local news station.

"Details into the Five-O case are still unclear at this time, but what we do know is thousands of dollars in damage was done today in a market place that seems to be a Five-O highway." Johnny Tao stated as the news feed cut back to him.

"It's not my fault my fugitives like to hang out in Ala Moana!" Steve huffed.

"Don't worry about it Steve," Danny stated with a shrug. "That guy wouldn't know what it was like to get in a chase, let alone what a treadmill was." Danny spat and grumbled as the slightly overweight - expensively dress - TV personality continued to talk down about Five-O to get his point across.

"If it weren't us getting all the back-lash it would be someone else." Steve stated as he let another string of harsh words roll off his back. "Besides we know that we are doing what is best, and the Governor will back us up - he always does." he added as his phone began ringing.

"Hey Duke, what do you have for us?" Steve asked into the phone as Danny turned the TV off once more.

"No, we wrapped our case, we're not busy." Steve stated and winked at his partner who was flailing to get Steve to stop.

"We _are_ busy - we have paper work to file!" Danny stated loud enough that he was sure Duke heard him.

"All right, Danny and I are on our way!" Steve finished his conversation as cheerfully as possible and hung up.

"Back to the grind already?" Danny whined. "I'm not even finished my coffee." He stated and waved his StarBucks cup in Steve's face.

"We'll if you would quit your belly aching, maybe you would have had time to finish. I guess I'm driving so that you can drink your coffee!"

"You always drive," Danny stated as he swiped his cup up off the table again and followed his partner out of the office.

5-0

Steve and Danny walked into the news paper publisher's office. In the lobby they found all of the people that worked in the building being questioned by police. Outside other news reporters had already started to gather.

"Glad you could make it." Duke Lukela stated as he walked out of the crowd and up to the arriving Five-Os.

"You said, on the phone, that this involved us," Steve said as he looked around.

"It might," Duke answered and moved away from the large group - Danny and Steve followed obediently.

Outside of a private office space, Steve and Danny were surprised to see Max and Charlie just standing in the hallway. The two scientist were all dressed up for the investigation, with masks and gloves, and even protective suits, but they were stuck in the hall waiting.

"Why aren't you processing the scene?" Steve asked as they were led right to where the coroner and the forensic scientist stood.

"Because we figured that you might want to see this before we tear it apart. It was meant for you." Charlie said and there was a disturbed hesitation in the way he spoke.

Steve spun on Duke in that moment and looked at him questioningly.

"The victim has been identified as Lauren LaBelle." Duke explained as he stood between Steve and Danny, and the door to the woman's office.

"_The_ Lauren LaBelle? The same journalist who has it out for Five-O? I swear every story she writes paints Five-O in a negative light. It's like her personal vendetta to see the task-force abolished." Danny said with shock and confusion. Was it a coincidence that everyone in news media had it out for Five-O today?

"It's funny you should word it that way." Duke stated and without explanation he opened the door and motioned for Steve and Danny to go in.

Inside the room the walls were plastered like an inverted paper mashe piñata with every article the woman had ever written against Five-O. The walls, the ceiling, the windows and even the door were slathered with a high gloss lacquer that left the room smelling so strongly Steve and Danny had to covered their faces or risk becoming high off the fumes. In the middle of the room, in her overly expensive desk chair sat the woman in questions. She had been warped up like a cocoon in her writing and spilling out from her mouth was a cascade of feathery strips - with only the news papers header on them. Her head was pushed back, hanging over the back of her chair and where the paper cover her neck, it was stained red with blood - it was the only colour left in the room of black and white new print. She looked like she had been tortured before she was wrapped up and killed.

On her desk top, the only item in the office that wasn't covered in paper, was a screensaver that flashed the message that was meant for Five-O - if the message wasn't clear enough already.

_Five-O will be the one to avenge you, although you are undeserving of their help._

_You are completely to blame._

The message moved across the screen as Danny and Steve looked around.

"How did no one see this happening?" Danny asked in shock.

"I think the better question would be who is a fan of Five-O and a psychopath?" Duke Lukela asked. "Because this took a lot of planning, a lot of ingenuity and a person that was close to this victim. He clearly didn't like what she was writing about you."

"That's why you are holding everyone that works in this office." Steve stated.

"If it wasn't an inside job, then it could be almost anyone," Duke stated. "I don't know if they've done you a favour by silencing your biggest critic or if this could be the biggest puzzle you've ever had to deal with, but all signs point to you as the ones who will solve it. It's almost like this killer wants to be found - by you - to prove that you are the best on the island and worth having around."

"Or he's mocking us," Danny stated.

"The thing that worries me," Steve said after he walked out into the hallway to where the coroner and the forensic scientist stood, "is that she wasn't our biggest critic. She was vocal about her dislike for Five-O, but she's not the only one. This might be only the beginning."

"You think this is going to be a serial case?" Danny asked.

"I think this is a warning to anyone who spoke out against us, and if we don't catch this person, it may be just what our critics need to silence us forever."


	2. The Second

**A/N: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for all the kind comments and excitement that has arisen around this story. It's been a fun plotting this murder mystery for you. I hope you like chapter 2. Keep the awesome comments coming!**

Chapter 2: The Second

Back at the office photos had already stated to arrive and flashed to life all over the Five-O bullpen. Steve and Danny walked in to find the computer screen saver message already up on the monitors, with the odd crime scene photo and the busily searching data bases running triage.

Outside Five-O HQ more media personnel had started to assemble, and Danny and Steve had only narrowly escaped the masses at the news paper office. They were certain many of them had caught a glimpse of the fleeing Camaro, and were now on their way to join the crowd outside the building.

"So where do we start?" Steve asked as he stepped up to the smart table where Kono and Chin were waiting.

"Evidence is pouring in from the crime scene and Duke and his men are questioning and cataloguing all of the workers to try and narrow things down for us. Once all of the employees have checked in and all questioning has occurred, and they have been cross referenced with time cards and employee records, we may have something to go on." Chin explained. "For now, whatever we might find, will be grasping at straws."

"We've pulled up everything we have, and know, about Lauren LaBelle – we needed a place to start," Kono jumped in as Chin finished. "I'm combing through her articles to see if there was anything out of the ordinary - anything that stands out as something interesting from one or any other of our cases since the beginning of the task-force. I'll cross-reference cases with articles if I have to and dig a little deeper into suspects or witnesses from those case. If anyone stands out, I'll run facial recognition against the surveillance cameras at the news paper and see if anyone comes up."

"See, grasping at straws," Chin stated again.

"All right, Danny and I will head over to the coroners office to see if Max has anything to tell us about the way she died." Steve stated but suddenly there was a scream and the sound of panic from outside.

"What the hell is going on out there?" Danny asked as he and Steve rushed to the open window in Steve's office.

From the window they could see the growing crowd of reporters, the news vans and the satellite hook ups, but all the commotion seemed to come from the back of one of the TV station vans.

Cameras flashed as people scrambled around the van. Some were trying to get closer, while other - more responsible people - were trying to push them back.

As they watched the calls for help continued, until calls of a desperate nature for Five-O to come out and the cries for people to back away from the van got louder and more forceful.

"We'd better check it out." Steve said as he turned away from the window.

"They probably just want you out there to bombard you with questions. It's probably all a false alarm." Danny huffed when another scream was heard and general panic ensued. "Okay that sounds like real panic."

"Let's go!"

5-0

Steve and Danny rushed out to the news commune as the HPD officers were arriving from down the street - Kono and Chin followed.

"What's going on?" Steve yelled as he held out his badge and parted the crowd.

"Johnny Tao is dead!" Someone stated right next to Danny.

"Everyone get back!" Kono yelled as Steve's worried look caught her.

"Step away from the Van!" Chin added and as more members of HPD moved in, the crowd was pushed back and separated from the scene and all of their equipment by yellow police tape.

Steve and Danny rushed toward the Hawaii Chanel 7 news van cautiously. Inside they spotted the cause of all the hysterics.

Hanging from a support bar, welded to the ceiling of the van was the robust figure of Johnny Tao - with his feet barely touching the floor. The man who had reported his discontent for Five-O, just hours before, was now dead. His neck was cut. His eyes were wide open and the look of fear on his face was enough to make anyone skin crawl. His mouth was open in a soundless scream and his microphone was jammed down his throat. He was wrapped from his neck to his feet in power cables of all kinds and all of the monitors in the van hummed with snow and lost connections.

On the inside of the van door - taped to Johnny's make up mirror was a note and it was clearly for Five-O to find.

_Five-O will be the ones to avenge you, although you are undeserving of their help._

_You are completely to blame._


	3. Profiling a Killer

**A/N: Hello everyone. Thank you so much for all the lovely comments. It's been so much fun to read all your messages and see all the speculations. Keep them coming!**

Chapter 3: Profiling a Killer

As quickly as the commotion had started, Steve's authority over every one came out and the chaos turned to a fearful and anxious kind of calm - not many people had heard the SEAL yell like that, many would never hear it again.

Max arrived on the scene before Charlie and his crew, but by the time they'd arrived Kono and Chin had collected every last piece of recording equipment - phones, cameras, digital recorders - that they could and there was a lot because the crowd was made up of reporters and photographers, and tourist mulling about the statue of King Kamehameha.

"There really isn't any doubt this is the same person," Charlie stated as he surveyed the scene doing his preliminary investigations and photographs.

Danny rubbed at the bridge of his nose. He's been standing guard over the body since the moment it was found - by Five-O. Enough interest in the dead man had arisen and Danny was placed in charge of giving the man a little privacy - even though he would never have afforded any member of Five-O the same luxury if it would have been one of them.

"No doubt about that," Danny said with a sigh, "but I'd like to know what we did to get this kind of fan mail."

"I'll do my best to give you an answer to that," Charlie said sympathetically, "but with these kinds of psychopaths, you just never know what is going on in their heads. Most of the time they end up dead before you can question them and, if you do get them into custody, the crazy is so thick that you never really understand what their reasons are."

"It takes a special kind of crazy to do what this guy is going in a crowd and community as small as Oahu." Danny said as he scanned the crowd of people gathered together like cattle behind the yellow caution tape. "He's probably still here watching us."

"Maybe, it will be all over the news tonight, so if he's not here watching to see people's reaction to his handy work, he can catch it tonight. He may be out getting ready for another one, as these last two have been so close together." Charlie said without thinking as he snapped on a pair of latex gloves.

"Don't talk like that." Danny scolded.

"You know it's probably true. I can see it in your face. You've been working it out in your head this whole time. I just said it - you were thinking it."

5-0

Kono and Chin retreated inside with boxes of electronics to sort through the mess of the massive amount of possible evidence.

The computers would do all the recognition work once everything was input into the system - that would take the majority of their time and was a bit much for only two people. After a quick phone call to their resident hacker and the wait for him to find his way into the office, Kono and Chin breathed a sigh of temporary relief when Toast finally walked though the double glass doors looking more disheveled than usual.

"What have you done? It's a zoo out there!" Toast stated and there was frustration on his tone.

"It wasn't our fault," Kono stated defensively.

"That's not what I heard from the angry mob gathered outside behind the caution tape as I had to fight my way to the building. If you keep this up, they will get torches and pitchforks, and will be out for your heads! Thank goodness I have identification for this place or I would have never gotten out of the herd." Toast argued. "They aren't pleased with Five-O for getting two of their own murdered in the same day."

"Mass hysteria has set in," Chin said with a sigh.

"Maybe we blame them and really freak them out. Maybe they'll get the clue and they'll run and hide." Kono grumbled.

"But if we give out that one little piece of information that the killer left us then there will be even more panic." Chin said thoughtfully.

"You have something?" Toast asked.

"Yes, we have a note left in both murdered blaming the victim for their own actions." Chin stated.

"So what am I here to skillfully acquire for you, if you already have that kind of evidence?" Toast asked accusingly.

"We really just need an extra set of hands for data-input..." Kono answered and smiled weakly.

"You're so lucky the job pays well." Toast sighed and stepped up to the computer system to log in."

5-0

Steve and Danny followed the body of Johnny Tao back to the coroner office. As they waited and watched Max work, Steve's phone rang.

"What the hell have you done now?" Governor Sam Denning yelled into Steve's ear causing him to hold the phone up and away from his head. "The general media is calling for the immediate disbanding of the task-force and for HPD to be put on the case to protect them."

"If you pull us from this case, many more people will die." Steve said when the Governor stopped yelling.

"What do they not know about this guy?" Denning asked - sounding calmer than before.

"He leaves a message scolding the person he has just killed - saying that Five-O will avenge him, or her, but that they are undeserving of our help." Steve explained.

"Sounds to me like more people are going to die."

"I think it has to do with one case," Danny said in a side to Steve.

"What is Danny's theory?" Denning asked, having only caught the tone in the familiar detective's voice.

Steve handed the phone to Danny.

"I think this is a revenge plot. These deaths are complicated and violent but completely pre-meditated. It took a lot of time to kill Lauren LaBelle and, though Johnny was quicker, it was so similar to Lauren that it screams revenge. It all had to do with a case, or an incidence, in which both reporters reported in a way that angered the killer - maybe even led to the negative outcome of another case." Danny explained.

"So you think we should be narrowing our search to cases that went poorly and got a lot of media attention" Steve asked.

"Yes." Danny stated.

"Give me your phone." Steve ordered.

"Why?"

"Because you're on mine!"

Danny handed the phone to Steve and returned to his conversation with the Governor, while Steve called bat to HQ.

"What can I do to calm the hysteria?" Denning asked when he knew that he had Danny's full attention - or relatively so.

"Do you want to do the press conference on our behalf?"

"I could do that, but what do you want me to say?"

"It would be best if you could get the whole lot of them off our case, but as its the media, that's probably not on option."

"Do you suspect someone among them?"

"No, but I believe we will see more victims if we aren't left to do our jobs." Danny said with a sigh. "I believe that this person may be familiar to the people that he's killing, but we won't know the link until he's either killed all the people he is seeking revenge against, or we catch him. He left a note - a hand written note - in the Johnny Tao murder. The first note was in the form of a computer screen saver, but said exactly the same thing. We need this kept to ourselves. It's been sent to the crime lab for analysis and hopefully it will be the evidence we need to catch him."

"Are you looking into other reporters that are big critics of Five-O? Maybe you are the common denominator in this whole situation." Denning suggested.

"We will be, but what are we to do, put HPD protective details on all the people who hate us?" Danny asked. "There happen to be a lot of them. We're not very popular with the media, though we do have a devoted fan base of civilian supporters."

"We can deal with protection if it comes to that, but I would like to know that you are checking in on certain people to see if any of them are dead as well." Denning suggested.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. It may make it look like we're not just chasing our tails."

"I'll let you get back to work. I apologize for my anger."

"Don't worry about it. I'd be angry too if I had hysterical reporters crashing down my door - oh wait, we already had that. I'm angry too." Danny stated sarcastically.

"It will only get worse if you keep letting their peers turn up like human piñatas."

"I know."


	4. A Face In The Crowd

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who have been so vocal and kind with their comments. I love to read them, even though I have become a terrible correspondent. I will try to catch up on the comments, and if I don't get back to you, thank you so much for reading I really appreciate it! **

**In this chapter I realized just how often I have made up my own characters to fill a need. It's not like I want to create an alternative universe, but sometimes you just need that character to fill a need. A new character that I am introducing in this story – into my head canon - will appear in this story and in Ho'opana'i and she has already made an appearance in one of my Rants. I've added her to my Ohana. I hope you like her.**

**Happy Reading!**

Chapter 4: A Face in the Crowd

"So did he give you any advice?" Steve asked when Danny had ended the call with the Governor and the exchange of phones returned them to their rightful owners.

"He wants us to check up on our biggest critics, just to see if this isn't just the beginning." Danny answered. "It's a place to start."

"At least that would keep us out of the office," Steve said half heartedly. "Do you have anyone in mind?"

"I think we need to head back to the office to regroup and to see if there is any one else glaringly absent from the angry mob." Danny answered sarcastically.

"All right, let's do that." Steve said as Max came out of the autopsy bay. "Did you find anything blatantly obvious that might give us some direction on this investigation, Max?" Steve asked the scrubbed and gowned medical examiner.

Max shook his head, "my preliminary examination tells me that both victims died in the same way. The murderer snuck up on them, subdued them, somehow, and cut their carotid arteries. He then wrapped the necks so tightly with medical gauze that it nearly stopped the bleeding but it paralyzed his victims. He then wrapped them up and left them to bleed out, and eventually they did. Johnny Tao's body is still warm and rigor motis hasn't even started to set in." Max explained. "Aside for that I have to wait for the forensics detective to get here to help me un-wrap the body. I don't want to destroy any evidence - if there is any to be found - and I can't do that on my own. I need the detective to do that and to document every piece that comes off that body."

Danny and Steve nodded their understanding.

"And to think, she and I had only just finished with Lauren LaBelle when I got called out of the office for Johnny."

"She?" Danny asked intrigued.

"Yes, Doctor Mona Blainson, she's with the crime lab and is one of the supervisors there. She's a doctor and a detective to boot! She could have been a medical examiner but she likes the diversity of the forensics." Max explained.

"And you trust her?" Danny asked.

"Yes, and you're going to have to as well because she's on the case whether you like it or not," Max stated and turned back to the autopsy bay, "I'll contact you with my findings." He added and then closed the door behind him.

"Time to regroup?" Steve asked with a shrug as Max left.

"Yeah," Danny answered with a sigh and followed Steve out.

5-0

Back at HQ the front lawn had become like a ghost town. The trucks lined up on the road and were taped off and abandoned. HPD officers stood in a line along the tape and the crowd had either been relocated or disbursed. The usual faces were no where to be found.

"The one time I want them here, to look at, they're gone." Danny grumbled as he got out of the car and followed Steve into the building.

Once in the office the faces Danny wanted were everywhere on all the monitors like a silent assembly, as Toast stared on.

"Where is everyone?" Danny asked as Toast held a dry erase marker in his hand and tapped it against his teeth.

"Scanning for old case files and making a list of your biggest critics," Toast answered as he pointed first to Kono's office and then to Chin's with the marker, and then resumed the tapping.

"And you are doing what exactly?" Steve asked.

"Uploading video data and manually scanning the crowds." Toast answered as he pet the Smart table with one hand as he leaned on it. He then moved to a monitor and circled a face with the marker before returning to his spot to lean.

"Who is that?" Steve asked.

"And why are you drawing on the monitors when the computer could do that for you?" Danny added.

"Oh relax, the computer is busy and the marker isn't going to hurt anything, and that guy isn't in that image." Toast explained as he pointed from one screen to the next. "I'm just ruling out people. One image is a shot from the news paper building and the crowd outside and inside, and the other is a shot from outside this building. I'll later use some of these people to narrow down the facial search once all the info is uploaded and I'll be able to paint a full picture of their movements while simultaneously gathering and hacking into their records."

"Sounds complicated," Steve stated.

"No, complicated will be scanning previous Five-O cases for reoccurring individuals that have nothing to do with the case, but I've already written most of the code for that program. I'm really good at multitasking."

"Do you have anyone to look into yet?" Steve asked as Danny moved and stood next to Toast and scanned the images.

"Kono had one," Toast admitted, "a photographer, an Erik Pintanell. Do you know him?"

"Yeah, he's like our own personal Peter Parker. He's always taking pictures of Five-O at our worst, but we never see it coming." Danny answered.

"Well, Kono was suspicious because Erik wasn't at either crime scene and nothing has popped up by him yet involving these cases."

"He has a web site for his photography, but it hasn't been updated in two days," Kono stated as she came out of her office and joined the conversation. "I managed to get you an address in Honolulu where you might be able to find him. It's a gallery he's based out of - I'm still looking for an official residence."

"Two days, I don't like the sound of that," Danny stated and looked to his partner.

"It could be nothing," Toast said with a wave of his hand. "Maybe the guy went on vacation."

"You pray that that's what is going on here." Danny said sarcastically and followed his partner out of the office - snatching up his bullet proof vest as he went.


End file.
